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National News from the Bryan College Station Eagle

Study shows $75K can buy happiness
WASHINGTON -- They say money can't buy happiness. They're wrong. At least up to a point. People's emotional well-being -- happiness -- increases along with their income up to about $75,000, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings o ...

Montana plane crash revives 'lap child' debate
HELENA, Mont. -- Federal transportation safety officials are using the crash of an overloaded plane in Montana to revive a debate about whether infants and toddlers should be allowed to travel on the laps of adults. The National Transportation Saf ...

Picking right blood pressure medicine challenging
WASHINGTON -- It's hard to predict which pills will best lower which patient's high blood pressure, but researchers are hunting ways to better personalize therapy -- perhaps even using a blood test.The work is controversial, challenging today's usual ...

Church rebuffs military concerns on Quran burning
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A Christian minister said Tuesday that he will go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran this weekend to protest the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks despite a warning from the top U.S. general in Afghanistan that doing so would ...

Holloway lawyer dismisses Van der Sloot claims
NEW YORK -- The lawyer for the mother of an Alabama teen who disappeared in Aruba has dismissed claims by the Dutchman suspected in the case that he extorted money from the parents to get back at them.Speaking on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, John Kell ...

Using Che Guevara image riles some Cuban Americans
Associated PressWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Some Cuban Americans in south Florida are upset to see a picture of revolutionary Che Guevara promoting an irreverent car race.The "24 Horas de Cuba del Norte" -- or 24 Hours of Cuba of the North -- is part of ...

Protest over fatal shooting by LAPD turns violent
LOS ANGELES -- A protest over the fatal police shooting of a Guatemalan immigrant turned violent when some demonstrators threw bottles at officers, set trash cans on fire and refused to disperse.Television news footage showed people tossing the bottl ...

Florida inmate loses appeal for victim's truck
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Florida appellate court has ruled against a death row inmate who was convicted of killing a couple and then petitioned to keep a vintage pickup that belonged to one of the victims.The ruling may end a legal battle that has dragged on ...

Attorney: JetBlue attendant in NYC flap resigned
NEW YORK -- A flight attendant who captured America's attention when he told off a plane full of passengers and then slid down an emergency chute resigned from his job last week and wasn't fired, his lawyer said Sunday. Steven Slater left the job ...

Va. woman devours 181 chicken wings in NY contest
NEW YORK -- The Black Widow of eating contests gobbled up nearly 181 chicken wings in 12 minutes, devouring the national championship record in Buffalo on Sunday. "I'm so happy!" said Sonya Thomas, who ate 4.86 pounds of chicken wings to win the c ...

Backyard volunteers helping track firefly numbers
INDIANAPOLIS -- The yellow-green streaks of fireflies that bring a magical air to summer nights, inspire camp songs and often end up in jars in children's bedrooms may be flickering out in the nation's backyards as suburban sprawl encroaches on the ...

1 Wyoming football player killed, 3 hurt in wreck
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A University of Wyoming football player was killed and three teammates were injured when a pickup drifted off a Colorado highway and crashed on Monday, authorities said.Ruben Narcisse, 19, of Miami was killed, the Colorado Stat ...

Colorado wildfire destroys dozens of homes
DENVER -- A wind-whipped wildfire sent flames roaring through a rugged canyon in the Colorado foothills, forcing hundreds of people to flee and destroying dozens of homes -- some that belonged to the firefighters themselves, authorities said early ...

U.S. expected to foot the bill for Afghan training for years
WASHINGTON -- The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins pulling out its own combat troops in 2011. The previously undisclosed estimates of U.S. spending through 2015 ...

Obama assails GOP as he pushes $50B program
MILWAUKEE -- A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing American ...

Experts: Get specialized, or expect low pay
Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay -- or none at all. Job creation will likely remain weak for ...

Lawyer: JetBlue flight attendant was not fired
NEW YORK -- A flight attendant who captured America's attention when he told off a plane full of passengers and then slid down an emergency chute resigned from his job last week and wasn't fired, his lawyer said Sunday.Steven Slater left the job at J ...

Study: Firefly population could be flickering out
INDIANAPOLIS -- The yellow-green streaks of fireflies that bring a magical air to summer nights, inspire camp songs and often end up in jars in children's bedrooms may be flickering out in the nation's backyards as suburban sprawl encroaches on their ...

Frugal are spending if product promises a return
NEW YORK -- How do you get penny pinchers to spend these days? Pitch products that promise to save them money.Demand is rising for kitchen and bath gadgets that squeeze out that last blob of toothpaste and help get the suds out of tiny slivers of soa ...

Master chefs raise the bar for sports food
NEW YORK -- There's been intense competition going on at the U.S. Open, and it has nothing to do with aces or foot faults. Instead, five of Bravo TV's Top Chef Masters have been working to create the best food of the tournament -- something more e ...

California falls behind in waste-to-energy race
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Los Angeles County officials are looking to spend $200 million to build three so-called biorefineries as California attempts to catch up with Japan and other countries in turning trash into energy. Fears that newer trash ...

Ground zero belongs to the American people
NEW YORK -- It is a place of sacrifice. A place of mourning. A place people pass by on their way to grab lunch. It's a place where tourists crane their necks to snatch a glimpse around barriers walling off an enormous construction site -- which is al ...

Craigslist cuts adult services section
Craigslist appears to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult services section Saturday and replacing it with a black bar that simply says "censored."The move comes just over a week after a gro ...

'Birth tourism' not so rampant
SAN JUAN -- When Ruth Garcia's twins are born in two months, they'll have all the rights of U.S. citizens. They and their six brothers and sisters will be able to vote, apply for federal student loans and even run for president. Garcia is an illeg ...

Oil firms opposed safety rule
WASHINGTON -- The company whose Gulf of Mexico oil platform erupted in flames this week cited the industry's "excellent safety record" when it opposed a proposed federal rule last year that would require offshore oil and gas operators to have safe ...